My Approach to Helping
With graduate, post-graduate degrees, and over 30 years of clinical experience, I welcome Children, Teens, Adults, Couples & Families into my practice who are facing anxiety, depression, anger, trauma, grief, addiction, chronic pain, or stress from relationship conflicts breakdown. I specialize in cognitive-behavioral, dialectical behavioral, deeper-heal ing, and relapse prevention therapies, personalized to each client's unique age & circumstances, a unique couple's program, and deep healing that addresses shifts pain and utilizes strengths to repair. Finally, I belong to a specialized multidisciplinary team helping families through divorce.
Following the completion of a comprehensive assessment which offers a straightforward explanation of why you are suffering and what you would benefit from, you will receive a customized, personalized, 3 stage program for individuals, or a 2 stage program for couples that address self-care, stress management, and deeper healing. I balance providing a safe space for honest exploration with ensuring we identify key tools towards making real changes.
Clients tell me they appreciate the straight honest compassionate talk that motivates them towards changes they knew they needed to make but just wasn't sure how to do it.
More Info About My Practice
I opened my private practice 26 years ago and specialize in helping children, teens, and adults in their own lives, in their relationships, and in their families. I am well respected for my 3-stage program of recovery, including self-care, CBT, and DBT and deeper healing approaches, as well as my unique stress management and couple, family counseling programs. I am extremely proud of the programs that I have developed and are highly dedicated to my clients and support them with sensitivity to ensure that they reach their goals.
I am also a sought-out speaker for professional groups and is often asked for my viewpoints by the media. I have been acknowledged in the community for my dedication to the well-being of families, adults, and youth and are known for my specific strategic style of work, and respectful straight talk towards making real changes in the lives of my clients.
I provide clinical supervision and case consultation province-wide to social workers needing expertise direction in their practice.
Specific Issue(s) I'm Skilled at Helping With
Trauma
Relationship Conflict
Grief
Chronic Pain and Illness
Anxiety
Depression
Addiction
How Psychotherapy Can Help
I want your therapy to be the best gift you give yourself! We often become too good at pushing down and pushing on, in efforts to get by, but with that comes, increasingly more frequent and more serious signals that there are problems. (Sometimes our own efforts or our own support networks are simply not enough. )....Those who are strong and brave, pay attention to those signs and come to my door.
I want your therapy to give you a safe space to be vulnerable, to be honest, to figure out why and how you got to where you did and ultimately figure out what to do about it. There are real reasons to explain your symptoms, your challenges, your conflicts and why you are sabotaging or underperforming in your life; at school, at work, with friends, with family, with your partner and there are real steps to take towards change. My job is to facilitate a process for you that is personal and effective towards healing from the past pain, building here and now strategies to reduce reactions that are working against you, and ensuring you have the tools towards reaching the goals that are important to you. I work with your strengths and resilience to not only recover but also give you reliable techniques to begin using now.
On the Fence About Going to Therapy?
It is natural to feel some ambivalence or even resistance to beginning therapy. Speaking out loud about our pain, our shame, our regrets, the problems, make them "real". Once these are spoken, it's hard to turn back. The bad news is that we are in a new position to acknowledge the pain and reality, and that can be hard. The good news is that now we are in a new position to do something different. My job is to make sure that we pace the work in a completely non-judgemental space to give you the control and freedom you need to ensure you reach your goals effectively and that the progress is sustainable for your future.
So, are you ready? I encourage you to ask yourself...
1) What are the real negative consequences I am experiencing because of the problems I am having?
2)How are these problems holding me back in my life?
3) How serious are the patterns I keep repeating in my life?
4) Where do I think I could I get if the issues are resolved?
5) What are the ultimate costs to me, to my career, to my family, to my relationships, if I don't deal with the problems?
How My Own Struggles Made Me a Better Therapist
I am 60. I am divorced. I have a daughter.
I have had support. I have had direction. I have had success.
I have had conflicts. I have had loss. I have had illness. I have had fear and anxiety.
I have had therapy.
I have learned better ways to cope, better ways to manage triggers, how to make peace, how to forgive and how to be the best version of me.
I don't just teach and facilitate recovery. I live it, ...everyday, not perfectly, but in the best way I can, and in the ways that I know work.
